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Amazingreen, the new fragrance from Comme des Garçons, is not amazingly green

If I had a penny for each and every time I had mentioned that green fragrances really aren’t my thing on this blog I’d have, well I’d have at least 6 pennies I reckon. 6 whole pennies people! In a time of recession that kind of money is not to be scoffed at. Now I’m not entirely sure why it is that me and green things don’t get on, perhaps I just prefer the flowers to the trees, shrubs and leaves, but whatever the reason the truth is that when it comes to me, it’s not that easy being green.

Now if there is one thing I have learned on my journey, wading through all of this perfume, is to never say never. One may think that one hates green fragrances but one can never speak too soon because quicker than lightning someone like Vero Profumo will come along with a fragrance like Mito or Andy Tauer with Verdant and one can’t help but coo at how beautiful it is. But then sometimes you’ll come across a green fragrance that is neither awful nor beautiful, one that is simply nice.

Comme des Garçons’ latest release ‘Amazingreen’ is one such green fragrance and it intends to be “an explosive fragrance that is as wild as the elements” where “organic greenery meets with the explosive elements of smoke and flint.” The sheer mention of the word “greenery” in the latter of these statements would usually send me running for the hills, but I was surprisingly intrigued by a fragrance who’s name promises something that is both “Amazing” and “Green”. What I found however, is a fragrance that isn’t really either of these things, and I’m not entirely sure whether that is disappointing or not.

Amazingreen opens green and juicy with jungle fruit and leaves. It’s moist and sweet with what feels like a great deal of vitamin c oozing from every drop. It is fair to say that it is green, but not amazingly so, and the green-ness becomes more and more vague as it develops.

The heart, in stark contrast to the juicy beginning, feels comparatively arid. Bitter ivy and warm herbs, tainted by a very faint, almost pale vetiver make for the most part of Amazingreen’s time on the skin and the underlying sweetness of the opening fades but never really dissipates.

During my many samplings of Amazingreen I was really looking forward to the promised gunpowder and smoke accords, but much to my dismay at no point did either present themselves to me. There is a dash of something mineral-like, perhaps a smell closer to flint (which would be the Silex I believe), that does make an appearance towards the end, but the main theme of the dry down is musk, and lots of it.

Despite the fact that Amazingreen is neither Amazing nor Green I can’t say that I hate it, it is in fact a very pleasant fragrance and I have worn it a couple of times, simply because it doesn’t really require input on my part to wear. It does smell good above all, but I definitely don’t love it and I think many Comme des Garçons fans, who are used to smelling something innovative and/or mind-blowing from the brand, are likely to be disappointed, after all “pleasant” isn’t what the die-hard fumenerds look for is it?

Availability

Amazingreen is available in 50ml and 100ml Eau de Parfum with prices ranging from £57-£75.

54Comments

What a lovely review sir! I’m with you that “it’s not that easy being green” but I also have the same philosophy like you with never saying never. I’m always open to try something new for me – at least I won’t like it but I will know how did that taste/smell, right? Since the beginning of my perfume journey I didn’t have much experience with Comme des Garcons line but I would like to try Amazingreen even when there’s a chance that I might not like it.

Trying and deciding what you like and what you don’t help us to decide on our tastes.

Thanks for your suggestions what are good beginners from CdG to try. In fact I already tried their Kyoto and I find it amazing. I don’t like perfume with incense but Kyoto was very nice to wear and it’s incense didn’t bother be at all

Great review! Unlike your good self I am obsessed with green. I approached AG with due scepticism as obsession breeds a measure of particularity. While the house enthusiasm for linearity and synthetic stability has resulted some important perfumes, the main problem with Amazing Green is it’s failure to achieve the characteristic transitions which, for me, make naturally occurring verdancy so compelling. The last few releases from CDG have been underwhelming and somewhat under-powered. I haven’t been able to shake a suspicion that some of their shortcomings are the result of budget constraints on the authors.

Ha ha! It’s not easy being green. I thought that too until this year when I gained a new appreciation of green scents. They need to be something special though and have some kind of twist for me to love them. All out bitterness is not good either. This one sounds like it’s not special enough and you’re right – just pleasant doesn’t cut it for people like us.

I’ve got perfume categories I’ve explored where once I’ve found my favorite, I feel satisfied (eg. working through mimosa resulted in Mimosa pour Moi), categories where I find myself with a trio or so of scents and again, the explorations feels “done”; and the loves where there’s always more to buy, and having 7 different versions of a note still isn’t enough. 😉

Green fragrances fit into the second category for me. The Engineer loves them despite the fact it’s often a problematic note for me, so I spent several months last year exploring the category and found three I really enjoyed. The nice thing is when I read these kind of reviews, although I enjoy hearing about something new and I enjoyed your post, the lemmings are very, very silent.

Sometimes a feeling of contentment is a great thing to have in this hobby.

Oh! I really hate it when things don’t live up to their name! I don’t mind a mind-twisting contradiction, but to call something Amazingreen and have it be neither amazing nor particularly green sounds like a loss of potential. There was a place downtown here called The Best Chocolate Cake in the World. First of all, their “cake” was more like a stack of crêpes with layers of chocolate cream sandwiched in-between. The chocolate wasn’t very chocolate-y either, more like chestnut with some cocoa powder. And overall, it was okay, but certainly wasn’t the best!

I thought of that when I read your review. I was hoping for something really interesting, along the lines of CDG Harissa from the Red series. Oh, well. The Best Chocolate Cake in the World ended up changing their name to something as bland as their cake (so bland I can’t even remember what it is now). Doubtful that will happen to this after they launch it . . .

I guess “The World’s Most Meh Chocolate Cake” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it 😛 But yes, I echo your sentiments entirely, if something is called “Amazingreen” you want it to be amazingly green or at least amazing AND green. This is neither.

Comme des Garçons haven’t done anything as interesting as the Red/Green/Incense/Synthetic/Sherbet series in a long time now 😦

Crapgreen that’s what it is 😀 Haha. This was a huge disappointment for me too – (I know you secretly thought it was rubbish :P)
Yep, no smoke, no gunpowder, just slightly bitter greenery, weak vetiver, and a whole bunch of watery aquatic notes – piss poor CDG D:

The thing is I don’t really think it’s rubbish. If it were from another, more mainstream brand I’d probably think it was better, I mean it does smell nice, I’ve worn it a couple of times and thought “this is OK, really”. But the fact that it’s Comme des Garçons means that the expectations are in the stratosphere and the reality just so happens to be in the dirt 😦

Yep – to be honest I find that with a lot of their stuff though. I don’t get the appreciation for CDG2 or 2Man…
Skai, Kyoto, even Avignon at times, not good!!
But I loved the 2011 EDP release ❤ CDG do wierd good and bad.
Amazinggreen is surprisingly generic for something with the word Amazing in it's name 😦 It's kind of embrassing really haha

Ahaha, or succeeded becuase we noticed 😉 But nah – I think they believe it’s an amazing green. Just like they believe Skai smells like plastic… it does not.
Yeh I keep hearing that – I don’t really get the snuffed out candle thing. It reminded me of a JCE composition – half empty and thin :’) (I’m not a fan)
So yes, blah blah blah, bad Comme des garcons… 🙂

😐
Oh man, TdH, oh mannnnn +o( I’m not a fan of the first two, BC is ok – I’m more of an Azemour fan myself, LEdH is also ok – can’t go too wrong with subtle heliotrope and white musk I guess ;), Bois Farine is my favourite of that you’ve mentioned, but when you realise that it is yet again, a subtle heliotrope, the novelty soon wears off. Oh and the rest.. well 😛
My poor immaturity, I’ll appreciate these one day I suppose – but don’t get me started on The Different Company though hahahaha! I think they regret sending me samples.

They are all fragrances that really aren’t your “thing” and heck, I must say that he is the antithesis of the big, bold and lush perfumes I love but taken as compositions, with tastes aside, they really are very well done!

I haven’t been impressed with what I’ve tried from The Different Company either 😛

Yep, not being much of a “greeny” myself – (tho’ I do LUV vetiver, which I suppose is “green”, but I digress … ) – I too was a little scared of trying Amazingreen. Still, being CDG I had to at least give it a chance, and actually was surprised to find that, like you, I didn’t actually hate it. I found it much more pleasant and wearable than I expected. But I too was disappointed with the lack of “smokyness/gunpowder” that I’d hoped would be it’s saving grace for me. And wasn’t too keen on the somewhat “toothpasty” beginning, which thankfully was fleeting. But otherwise yeah, I’d go with “Pleasantgreen” – & would probably wear it from time to time when in the mood for something fresh/uncomplicated, but only IF given a bottle.

Oops, guess what ? – I’m afraid I’ve made a bit of a boo-boo. 😦 … Due to a rather unfortunate mix-up with labelling on my samples, I’ve just discovered what I thought was a sample of Amazingreen, was in fact CdG’s Play series ‘Green’ instead. (Sorry !) … And whilst surprisingly most of what I said above actually still stands. (Apart from that “toothpasty” beginning I mentioned which is actually not the case with AG.) Now sniffing the real thing, I’m surprised to find that it’s actually much more ‘woody’ than actually ‘green’. I also now get the “gunpowder” note,not that it makes much of a difference. All in all, I’d say that I actually much prefer “Play/Green” than Amazingreen as a pleasant “green” fragrance.

No wonder you were underwhelmed by this one – it is amazingly “reen” after all, not “green”. As for “elements of smoke and flint”, I can’t hear those words without conjuring up fabric swatches from Sofa.com. : – ) The best part of the perfume may in fact be the stunning visual, which I have now annexed as my pc wallpaper.

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